It is becoming very fashionable to equip your apartment in the Art Nouveau style, or, as it is also called, art nouveau. This is due to the fact that rooms made in this style are distinguished by bright colors, many smooth wavy transitions from one element to another and, as a result, create surprisingly juicy and finished compositions.
A little history of Art Nouveau style
This style emerged at the end of the nineteenth century in Europe as a counterbalance to the classical, more austere one. However, at first he did not gain popularity. This was explained by the transition to mass production, as a result of which the manufacture of the many curved lines for which he was so famous was difficult to implement.
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Another reason for such low popularity was that in those days the presence of a kitchen in the house, like any other room in the Art Nouveau style, was considered a sign of bad taste. Only in the second half of the twentieth century, Art Nouveau began to gain popularity and increase the number of its fans.
There are two main distinguishing features of this style:
- riot of colors - Art Nouveau is distinguished by many rich shades, a rich color palette in each composition, which makes it bright, elegant and festive;
- smooth lines - elegant contours of furniture, rounded corners and semicircular kitchens create an incomparable feeling of being in a fairy-tale world.
Also, great attention in this style is paid to the functionality of furniture and surrounding elements of the interior.
It is suitable for any kitchen, regardless of its size, shape or light.
Kitchen decoration and interior
The best solution for decorating the walls of the kitchen (see. also this article) in the Art Nouveau style are both plastering and painting, as well as pasting with plain wallpaper (also considered here). It is best to choose light colors (for more information about the choice, wrote here) to highlight the colors of the rest of the room. However, some schools use wallpaper with some kind of patterns, for example, plants and butterflies, inserts of photo wallpapers or designs with stucco on the walls.
For ceilings, neutral tones are also commonly used. However, to give the composition the necessary mood, it can be performed in dark colors. It is also allowed to create a mirror coating, visually increasing the volume of the kitchen. Stucco molding is not excluded, it is especially popular in the Swiss branches of this style. The most acceptable option for an apartment is a stretch ceiling on several levels.
There are no specific requirements for the floor in the Art Nouveau kitchen. It can be made of both parquet and black marble tiles (read also Kitchens in black), if required by the exposure. The main thing is to make it comfortable.
An interesting solution would be to create a smooth transition between one of the walls and the ceiling or between the walls, which will give the kitchen an interesting and elegant look.
Furnishing
There are no specific requirements for furniture in the Art Nouveau kitchen, except for one - it must be. In this, he is somewhat reminiscent of minimalism, and his attitude to ergonomics is close to high-tech.
In any case, furniture in this genre, on the one hand, can be absolutely any colors and shapes, on the other hand, it should be comfortable, functional and organically fit into the interior.
It is best to look for a kitchen set based on personal preference. It will be extremely interesting to look with a wave-like structure, with no corners and in bright colors. In a small kitchen, wall or corner headsets will look good, which will allow you to win the useful area of the room.
The bar counter, loved by contemporaries, will also perfectly fit into this style, and if you approach this element of the interior with imagination, you can completely shift the emphasis. For example, this can be done with color highlighting when the kitchen is made in one color, and the table is in stark contrast to it.
Items made of colored glass (for example, apron) with metal elements. Chairs and a table of irregular shape with many bends will look even more interesting, which will give the furniture a futuristic look. One of the examples of such furniture are chairs in the shape of eggs on a high leg: they look interesting and unusual, and at the same time they are comfortable to sit on.
Kitchen equipment can also play a different role in the composition. It all depends on how the color, texture and location are selected.
Lighting
Lighting is one of the building blocks here. It creates the mood of the kitchen, helps to achieve the brightness and richness of the composition. Modern lighting devices, such as spotlights, LED panels and strips, allow you to accurately select not only the lighting of each zone, but also the color of the kitchen lighting in modern style.
Photo, design and decor in light colors. Choice of shade
Despite the fact that in this genre there is often a minimization of the amount of decor, this style is unthinkable without its presence. After all, it is the presence of any deviation from the norm that characterizes it as such.
It is because of the attitude to decor that Art Nouveau was divided into several directions, each of which got its own name.
- Art Nouveau is a French style characterized by natural motives. If the kitchen is made in white and pale green tones, and in the center there is a kitchen set depicting a tree, the roots of which are decorated cabinets, then this is Art Nouveau.
- Tiffany is a North American trend that emerged in the early twentieth century. It is characterized by a craving for turquoise color, pretentious display cases and window frames, vintage lamps, chandeliers with an abundance of jewelry (see also our advice on their selection).
- Jugentstil - translated from German young style. Formed at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Its main features are the absence of corners, the use of natural wood (see. Wood grain kitchens) and a large number of stained-glass windows and screens.
- Spruce - the direction originated in Switzerland. It is very close in concept to high-tech, but differs from it in that the appliances in the kitchen are not placed in the foreground, but more harmoniously fit into the overall design.
- Secession is the Austrian name for Art Nouveau. The difference from other schools is the huge amount of decorative stucco molding used.
How to decorate such a kitchen? We look at the photo options:
